Not to let neighbour's cat in?

[meadowquark]

We moved in 3 months ago. As in previous place, there are lots of local cats strolling around, but this particular cat started coming to our garden more and more, to the point that other cats don't pass anymore. I used to dislike cats, but this one is friendly, lovely, looks clean and looked after, and more over after stroking her several times, comes at least 3 times a day and meows to be stroked or let in. DS let her in 2 times by mistake (or the cat invited herself over), but it was taken out to the garden immediately. Every so often when I go downstairs, I can see it longingly sitting with her face pressed against the garden door longingly, even when there is noone downstairs, she just sits there waiting for someone to come and I feel so sad for her. I would love to invite her inside, but I respect her owners (whoever she/he is) and I keep her strictly inside. The thing it makes me emotional and so sad for her. As I said I didn't even like cats before I met her!
Should I just keep it this way?

Yes definitely. I have a super friendly young cat who tries to visit the neighbours all the time. I hate it if they let her in. She needs to learn that she lives in one house only. Cats always make themselves look pitiful to get what they want. You may end up annoying a neighbour if they realise you are letting her sleep in your home. I would be cross with mine if they did - and I think one of them is!

Oh wow, you've just become a slave to a cat that doesn't even own you yet! All joking aside, the cat looks well fed, clean and is very friendly. It sounds as if it has a very good home to go back to and is just making sure it gets a bit of extra loving. I couldn't work out why my cat was so fat, until I spoke to my lovely neighbours two doors up and discovered she was feeding him ham and chicken as he used to sit on her kitchen window sil howling and looking pitiful. Greedy wee, or rather big, shite! I was laughing with another neighbour about it when he admitted that he gets the same manipulating behaviour from fatty bum bum and feeds him Salmon! Ffs the kids don't even get salmon!

Why would you let someone else's pet in to your house? Sounds like you need to get out more. If it looks clean and looked after i'm not clear why you feel so emotional about the cat being outside. Indoor cats are the ones that end up obese and with health problems. Members of the cat family are meant to live outside , they're not supposed to be fluffy cushions on sofas.

Please don't let her in. I have a cat who does the "please let me in, it's cold out here and I'm staaaaarving" routine so well it's unreal. Despite being a fat cat (due to the success rate of this face) people fall for it all the time.

He's now having a miserable time because he's on special medication and people feeding him plays havoc with this which means I need to keep him in at the moment.

Don't let the cat in.

I had someone who kept shutting my cat in their house (& feeding him) and it used to really upset me that I was missing out on time with him when he wouldn't come home for his dinner. In the end because the old bat wouldn't stop luring him in with chicken he had to become a house cat.

What I'm trying to say is that
you could easily upset the real owner by letting the cat in.

we need a photo
cat lover here.

Sorry for the typos, mistakes and repetitions that I made in my original post. Need to get some sleep!

That's right! The cat just sits outside next to my door looking so pitiful that I feel like a bad ass for not letting her in. She even brought a mouse to us once!

Even to the point where I started thinking I should get my own cat.

I will try to take a picture tomorrow.

Is there any kind of tag?

You need to find out where he comes from and have a conversation with his owner.

Like others have said, if he's on a diet or on meds, you must not interfere.

In which case, maybe you need to find one of your own - you sound like you need one.

Or, maybe they'd be glad to have him/her off their hands.... You never know!

Tales of opportunistic cats reminds me of this story from my youth...

My parents had a cat who 'made friends' with some neighbours. Once they started letting her in and feeding her, she obviously went back for a free meal, she was no fool. One day she went completely missing and after some investigation, my mum found out who she had been visiting and that they had taken her to the vet where she was getting spayed. The vet apparently thought she was very young when she had actually been spayed about 13 years previously so ended up having major surgery for no reason. Poor cat was very traumatised and never got over it.